Comic Book Sales Figures for August 2009

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Blackest Night vs. Captain America: Reborn - Round 2.

By Jesse Schedeen

Today, Diamond Comic Distributors released their sales figures for August 2009. The tug of war between Marvel's Captain America: reborn and DC's Blackest Night that has dominated the summer continued for another month.

First, we'll look at overall market share and which publishers fared the best in August. By each publisher you'll see two numbers. The first is the market share in terms of units, or books, sold. The second is in terms of dollar share - the money made from sales to retailers. Note that these charts do not actually reflect sales to consumers.

Marvel Comics – 43.86% | 39.70%

DC Comics – 36.04% | 33.16%

Dark Horse Comics – 4.06% | 4.62%

Image Comics – 2.94% | 3.86%

IDW Publishing – 2.83% | 3.34%

Dynamite Entertainment – 1.89% | 1.93%

Boom! Studios – 1.45% | 1.54%

Archie Comics – 1.16% | 0.78%

Viz Media - 0.72% | 1.53%

Wizard Entertainment – 0.52% | 0.62%

Other – 4.52% | 8.94%

Whereas Captain America: Reborn #1 claimed the top spot in July ahead of Blackest Night #1, the top two slots switched in August. Blackest Night #2 came out on top with the #1 quantity rank, while Captain America: Reborn #2 finished at #2. Following at #3 and 4 were Batman and Robin #3 and Green Lantern #45, respectively. The first installment of Marvel's Ultimate Universe relaunch, Ultimate Comics Avengers #1, came in at #5.

The top 10 sellers for August were as follows:

Blackest Night #2

Captain America: Reborn #2

Batman and Robin #3

Green Lantern #45

Ultimate Comics Avengers #1

Dark Avengers #8

Uncanny X-Men #514

New Avengers #56

The Marvels Project #1

Blackest Night: Batman #1

While Marvel and DC usually wrestle for the best-selling graphic novel each month, in August the winner was instead Image Comics. The Walking Dead Vol. 10: What We Become TPB was the #1 graphic novel sold in terms of quantity rank. This was followed by DC's Fables Vol. 12: the Dark Ages TPB at #2 and Boom! Studios' Irredeemable Vol. 1 TPB. Interestingly, Marvel's Silver Surfer: Requiem Premiere HC ranked at #10 despite having been on the market since January 2008.

For graphic novels, it's important to note that these numbers reflect only copies shipped to specialty retailers. They don't reflect sales to major bookstores or online retailers.

The overall top 10 graphic novels sold were as follows:

The Walking Dead Vol. 10: What We Become TPB

Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages TPB

Irredeemable Vol. 1 TPB

Invincible Vol. 11: Happy Days TPB

Filthy Rich HC

Warren Ellis: Frankenstein's Womb GN

Batman: Hush Complete TPB

Dark Entries HC

Thor by J. Michael Straczynski Vol. 2 TPB

Silver Surfer: Requiem Premiere HC

Whereas Diamond Select Toys held the top spot for collectibles several months in a row with their Star Trek Tricorder, August was won by DC Direct. The Cover Girls of the DCU: Zatanna statue claimed the top spot in terms of quantity rank (collectibles aren't measured by quantity rank). DC Direct also claimed the second and third spots with the Hot Toys Dark Knight 1/6-scale Batmobile and the World of Warcraft Premium Series 1 Master Case.

Overall, DC Direct had seven of the top ten best-selling toys in June, followed by Kotobukiya, Hasbro, and DST with one each.

Once again, with all of these sales figures, it's important to bear in mind that they only reflect sales through Diamond itself. There are other distribution methods for these products, and particularly in the case of graphic novels and toys, the total, comprehensive sales figures may be far different.

Stay tuned to IGN Comics for plenty more industry news in the coming weeks. We'll have the September 2009 sales figures as soon as they become available in early October. With Marvel and DC continuing to play tug of war with their top selling books, it will be interesting to see who comes out on top this month.